After displaying her collection of prosthetic legs at this year's TED conference, bionic actress, athlete and model Aimee Mullins recently announced that she will speak at the TEDMED convention this fall.
Mullins has been instrumental in changing the public perception of prosthetics. After setting multiple world records at he 1996 Paralympic games, she has used her modeling, athletic and film careers to end the idea that prosthetics are a mark of disability. Instead, she's shown the world that bionic limbs can enable some amazing things. As a guy who's barely 5'8" on a good day, listening to Mullins talk about how easy and fun it is to change her height on a whim does sound like a pretty incredible ability to have.
TEDMED annually explores a wide range of issues in health care. Topics this year range from ethical questions in the face of medical advancement to the theoretical capabilities of medicine. The fifth TEDMED conference will be held October 27-30 in San Diego. be sure to keep an eye on the conference come fall. [TEDMED, image via Women's Sports Foundation]
Dr. Quake of Stanford University only needed $50,000 and a month's time to complete a genome sequencing process which previously took $300 million, over 250 people, and several years. How cheap would Windows 7 be with this guy's cost-cutting?
Dr. Stephen Quake and his team used a "commercially available, refrigerator-sized instrument called the Helicos Biosciences SMS Heliscope" to sequence Quake's genome.
This machine, also known as a single molecule sequencer, is incredible. Instead of needing to generate thousands upon thousands of copies of a person's DNA, it chops the fundamental units of DNA, the bases, into short strands, slaps them onto a specially treated glass plate, and proceeds to read the sequences.
After these steps are completed, a series of computers will assemble all the DNA strands into a genome while comparing it to previously compiled genomes. According to an algorithm used by the team, this sequencing process results in genomes which are about 95% complete. (This is on par with previous sequencing technology.)
While Quake's research is important in what it represents: genome sequencing could become something used by regular health care providers to diagnose genetic predispositions to diseases (or maybe just figure out if someone's genetic code "contains a form of a gene that has sometimes been associated with increased disagreeability"), it also does something curious: in shows a far larger decrease in cost than Moore's law alone would suggest. The combination of better processing with a far better algorithm resulted in this dramatic progress over the past eight years and we can't wait to see how the implementation of improved algorithms will continue to affect this trend. [Business Wire]
As the name suggests, the PRC (Personal Rockin' Computer) chair is intended as a workstation...of sorts. Although, these images suggest otherwise.
Seriously, the gallery reads like this is something you might purchase in a unassuming building with no windows in the bad part of town. Whatever it is, I wouldn't mind having one. It's kind of like a hammock and a rocking chair all-in-one. Too bad about the ridiculous $4,200 price tag though. [PID via NotCot via DVICE]
Draganfly's series of photo/video-based UAVs have always been awesome, but they've also been more of a pipe dream than anything else. The X4 is smaller than the X6, but the smaller size also comes with a 25% price cut. Yes!
Like the X6—featured in Giz Gallery 2008—the X4 is a carbon fiber-bodied UAV with four carbon fiber rotating blades. The 680-gram (with battery) copter is capable of using a still/video camera (in this case, a Panasonic Lumix point-and-shoot), an infrared camera and a low-light camera, all of which can be controlled from the ground. The X4 also features three accelerometers, three gyroscopes, three magnetometers and a barometric pressure sensor, and the controller is based on an OLED touchscreen. The X4 only has four motors to the X6's six, but that comes at a big boon to the pricey 'copter: The X6 checked in at about $15,000, and the X4 should be more like $10,000.
So yeah, this thing is still super expensive. But it's also just about the best heli-cam we've ever seen, capable of flying both indoors and in inclement weather (up to 18mph of wind). Check out these videos at Draganfly's site to get a real sense of the true badassery of the copter. [Draganfly]
It looks like the Wii won't be sensing vitalities for a while. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata says they "would like to deliver the actual product not too late in the year next year." I suggest you pick up yoga. [Joystiq]
There's nothing much to say about the Cheetos Lip Balm, except it may be the product of the decade. If not the century. Even more so than the gargantuan Cheetos. Except that the Cheetos Lip Balm is a real product.
It is made by Lotta Luv, a New York-based company that makes lip balm of dozens of wonderful flavors, from Twinkies and Gummy Bears, to Snapple and Jelly Belly, going through Dr Pepper and Bubble Yum. Absolute geee-neee-usss. [Lotta LuvBuzzfeed via Geeks Are Sexy]
If you thought that Geek Squad employees were kind of dumb, well, you may be right. At least, that's the impression I get by looking at the absolutely stupid multiple-choice answers in their CompTIA A+ preparation test:
According to our anonymous tipster:
I collected some pictures from a GS Test new Agents take while they are in the process of becoming CompTIA A+ Certified [a industry standard certification for computer support technicians]. The pictures show some funny questions with even funnier answer choices.
Well, yes, they are funny. The wrong kind of funny, completely unchallenging, and plain down dumb. What's the purpose of a test that doesn't test anything? Oh wait, never mind.
Your shelves officially suck compared to these. They're Donkey Kong shelves, complete with a monkey, NES, SNES and N64. Oh, and the N64 only has Goldeneye as opposed to a full collection of games. Awesome. [Sprite Stitch via TDW]
The eternal graphics war: ATI vs. Nvidia. With the rise of GPGPU computing, if you're deciding who to fall in line with based on their graphics-accelerated platforms—Stream or CUDA, respectively—PC Perspective's done the dirty benchmarking work for you.
It actually boils down fairly simply to a mixed bag: ATI's Stream tends to be outright faster and pulls more of the load off of the CPU, but Nvidia's CUDA tends to produce better quality results. Interestingly, PC Perspective seems to like ATI's Avivo video transcoding application more than they used to, saying they're impressed by its simplicity. But which side are you on? [PC Perspective via Engadget]
With consumer technology companies locked in an endless race to to make the smallest, sleekest gadgets they can, it's easy to forget the primal joy of seeing mindblowingly huge hardware.
Here are ten machines that are so enormous that they'll screw with your sense of what's large, what's small, and what is truly gigantic—each handily put into scale.
Sling just submitted the 1.1 version of Slingplayer, which we reviewed here, to the App Store. It's going to have 16x9 widescreen, better remote, a faster connection for channel changing and remote control, plus DISH integration.
The DISH stuff is new, and will connect directly to the DISH receiver to "draw" the guide on the iPhone instead of just streaming a picture of the guide. It also has search and filtering features "that are not possible even when sitting in front of your TV." We'll let you know when the app's live.
A study published in the Journal of Bioelectromagnetics, says that children aged 11 to 14 abusing predictive texting in cellphones are turning into fast-thinking idiots. Sounds about right. Of course, lead researcher Professor Abramson doesn't say it exactly that way:
The kids who used their phones a lot were faster on some of the tests, but were less accurate. We suspect that using mobile phones a lot, particularly tools like predictive texts for SMS, is training them to be fast but inaccurate. Their brains are still developing so if there are effects then potentially it could have effects down the line, especially given that the exposure is now almost universal. The use of mobile phones is changing the way children learn and pushing them to become more impulsive in the way they behave.
More impulsive than a 14 year old? Oh noes.
Abramson—professor at the Monash University, Melbourne, Australia—says that they are not becoming stupid because of the cellphone radiation frying their brains, but because predictive texting trains their minds into thinking they can get what they want easily: "If you're used to operating in that environment and entering a couple of letters and getting the word you want, you expect everything to be like that."
As someone who sometimes goes around life unconsciously clicking "UNDO! UNDO!," and using the pinching gesture to resize things, I understand completely. OK, maybe that's just an excuse for the pinching, but you get the idea.
There's a way to easily solve this, however: Make cellphones only available for 16 year-olds and older. That way, they can start texting right when they get their driver's license. Another way is to let kids feed the crocodiles at the zoo, allowing them to hand in the food through the bars. Both ways will make some great LOLz Ytbe vids! [Daily Mail]
It feels like we know everything about the Zune HD—except the price. Well, now we know, if Best Buy's inventory system is right: the 16GB model will go for $220, and the 32GB model will be $290.
Those prices look dirt cheap compared to the current iPod touch pricing, making the Zune HD seem super competitive now, but you gotta figure the touch's prices are gonna get re-aligned shortly after the Zune HD's launch, so it might look a little different then. Still, things look good so far for the Zune HD. [Thanks tipster!]
Today we've got some new gadgets for your home theater. Onkyo's new receiver can do both DLNA audio and internet radio streaming, and Netgear's latest powerline home networking kit is built for your network-enabled audio and video gear.
• Onkyo has a new receiver with some really cool connectivity options, but it's missing some features that would make it super cool. The TX-NR807 is DLNA 1.5 certified for streaming network audio, with support for MP3, FLAC, AAC, Ogg Vorbis and others. What's more, this is Onkyo's first receiver capable of streaming internet radio from Pandora, Rhapsody and Sirius. The audio streaming capabilities are great, but seeing a DLNA-certified device that can't handle video streaming is a bit disappointing. The receiver also only features an ethernet connection. In the year 2009, it's inexcusable to release a network-connected receiver in this price range without WiFi. Despite these minor quibbles, the TX-NR807's impressive streaming options and codec support deserve a look from anyone looking for a versatile home theater receiver. Ships today for $1,099. [Slash Gear]
• Netgear's latest powerline network solution, the Home Theater Internet Connection Kit, hits retail today. Inside the box you'll find an ethernet-to-powerline adapter and a 4-port powerline-to-ethernet switch. As long as the electrical wiring in your home is up to the task, the kit can reach transfer speeds of up to 200 mbps. Sure, a wireless network is a much more versatile option, and dual band wireless-N routers can come awfully close to the real world speeds you'll see on a powerline network. But for those with apartments located in the thick of a wireless signal jungle, or anyone looking to connect networked home theater devices that unbelievably don't have WiFi built in (see above), this could be a great option. Available today for $180. [Netgear]
Here's something you wouldn't want pointed near your face: a rubber band gun powered by a drill that can fire tens and tens of rubber bands in a matter of seconds.
The only cold comfort one can take away from this video is that once fired, it's gotta be a huge pain to reload. I mean, strapping all of those bands on there has got to take the better part of an hour. But once, loaded, man, I wouldn't want to be nearby. [Japan Probe via Boing Boing Gadgets]
It's 100 degrees outside my window at this very moment. The last thing I want to think about is a rechargeable neck warmer.
Alas, I must consider the implications of such a garment. If you live in colder climates or enjoy winter sports, something like this might be useful. Be careful though—with all of the news about batteries spontaneously catching fire, melted throats could be a concern. [Sanyo via Boing Boing Gadgets]
Laird Hamilton is as tech savvy as surfers get, using jet skis, kites and hydrofoils to have more fun on the waves. Here are his first experiences with waterproof music, and his discovery of H2O Audio earphones and iPod cases:
The thing about the water is that a lot of times you have other people out so having music to listen to is a way to block out people's questions. Kidding aside, it's one way to be in your own little world.
I use music in my regimen when it involves anything with long distances—if I'm doing a really long crossing, or something that's going to take me a while, music is a good distraction. It's a way to kinda let time go by.
Then I found that surfing with the right song creates a whole other situation that you don't have when you're not listening to the music. It's almost like you use a different part of your brain than you normally would without music. Sometimes I feel like things slow down, and I have more time to do maneuvers and to observe what's happening. (I'm not sure if there's any scientific research on that.)
Obviously, when waves are at 80 feet and our lives are on the line, we're not listening to music. We need to hear what's going on and, being put in a demanding situation, we need to be able to communicate. But we do it a lot on our foil boards—those hydrofoil boards that we ride—and again, with the right song, it's a little bit like a movie with a soundtrack. Music just really turns it into a whole different experience.
Before H2O Audio and the iPod, we had music. We were hungry in the early days, so we had the Walkman. They made a little case for a Walkman, with some earphones. We've been using music in surfing and paddling since it first became available in any form.
Laird Hamilton has been a surfing hero since the 1980s, solidifying his reputation as the king of big wave surfing when he conquered Tahiti's Teahupo'o Reef at its most perilous in August 2000. As an innovator, he pioneered many new activities including kitesurfing, tow-in surfing and hydrofoil boarding. He's on the board of directors at H2O Audio, makers of pro-level waterproof iPhone and iPod cases, and has his own signature line of Surge waterproof earphones, proceeds of which are donated to the Beautiful Son foundation for autism education.
Two words: Halo 2. Halo 2 is why Microsoft hasn't killed the old Xbox Live, according to G4. And the old Xbox Live architecture can't support more than 100 friends.
In order to add in support for more than 100 friends on the Xbox 360, Microsoft has to ditch the old Xbox Live setup first, and they're not sure when they're going to pull the plug on Halo 2. So if you want more friends on Xbox Live (like so many of us do), you need to tell the friends you already have to stop playing Halo 2 and move on up to Halo 3—or you know, an actually good FPS, like Call of Duty 4. Yeah, I went there. [G4 via Kotaku]
Why is it back? Who knows. It's still illegal in California, as selling personal info is against the law there, which was presumably why it was yanked before. It would be legal if it was made free, but it's still selling like hotcakes at $.99 to parents who are worried about sex offenders but probably feeding their kids McDonalds every other day, because that's just how people are.
They're hugely different devices, sure, but could the iPhone be stepping on the Kindle's toes again? CourseSmart, which offers subsciption-based, notes-capable eBooks online, has released a full-featured iPhone app for their subscribers. In other words, yes.
The app is free, but you'll need preexisting subscriptions to textbooks in order to access any. It's actually a shrewd, if somewhat obvious move for CourseSmart: lots of college kids have iPhones and iPod Touches, and while taking notes and reading long passages might be a little cumbersome on such a tiny screen, the ability to carry all your books in-pocket, complete with search and bookmarking capabilities, is a pretty big value-add.
As far back as May, it was clear that Amazon was pursuing CourseSmart for e-textbook content, an effort that may have culminated in a wimpy partnership with McGraw-Hill—a CourseSmart partner—which netted the ebook reader, and specifically the textbook-reader DX, about 100 regular old e-textbooks. This looks like something of a snub to me, or maybe just a lack of initiative on Amazon's part, but I get the feeling there's a still a lot going on behind closed doors here.
Anyway, do you want to hear all about this same story again, this time run through cable news' inexplicably tech-illiterate (and possibly word-illiterate) tech reporters? Sure you do! TEXT BOX! I-PHONE! Good lord. Watch the latest business video at FOXBusiness.com [WSJ, Fox Business]
Microsoft's official line on those leaked store plans were "early concepts," but besides the short timeline between the plans' July 7 date and construction, Microsoft's filed a trademark for the "INCLUSIVE EXUBERANCE" flower-power logo detailed inside.
That would suggest at least some of the stuff in the leaked plans is definitely a go. I wonder if they've decided whether it's going to be Guru Bar or Answers Bar? [PC World]
We've got some amazing deals on large screen TVs today, so be sure to check them out if you're in the market for a living room (or if you're especially awesome, a bathroom) upgrade.
This is either completely ludicrous or completely ingenious: the Thiphone. It's a holder for your iPhone that wraps around your thigh, letting you rest it there without risk of falling off. Hoo boy.
I mean, sure, maybe once in a while you'll want your phone strapped to your thigh while you're sitting down, but are you really willing to part with $30 for the privilege? Maybe I just don't use my phone in the way that people who this is designed for are using their phones. I'm trying to give this a fair shake here, but it's tough. Commenters, what say you? Is this useful or just another unnecessary, overpriced iPhone accessory? [Thiphone]
Jelly fishes attacking an undersea monster? That would be cool, but the reality is much simpler, and more beautiful: It's an helianthus annuus.
It's a sunflower (I had to look that up too). Japanese artist Macoto Murayama creates these beautiful illustrations of flowers, highlighting their geometry. Intriguing, delicate work. [Creators Bank via Pink Tentacle]
Modern SSDs might not "fragment" in the same way your old 9GB FAT32 drive did, but they've got their own, possibly worse problems. OCZ, along with Indilinx, say they've got a "garbage collection" firmware that'll clear things right up.
Here's how it works, in terms that you may or may not understand:
The flash memory used on today's SSDs is comprised of cells that usually contain 4KB pages that are arranged in blocks of 512KB. When a cell is unused, data can be written to it relatively quickly. But if a cell already contains some data—no matter how little, even if it fills only a single page in the block—the entire block must be re-written.
In layman terms, that means that the way many SSDs write data is sloppy, and leaves all kinds of useless junk all over the place, which later causes slowdowns when it is needlessly rewritten. OCZ has a firmware update that apparently fixes this while the drive is idle, and HotHardware says it's actually worth a nice little performance boost. So congratulations, OCZ SSD owners! Even better news?
Virtually all SSD manufacturers have incorporated, or soon will incorporate, garbage collection schemes into their drives' firmware that actively seek out and remove the garbage data.
All this before most people have even used these things. [HotHardware via Engadget]
Big Kahuna [noun]: One who surfs, snowboards or consumes three-pound cheeseburgers while shooting video self-portraiture on a cameraphone. [Surfer via TheRawFeed]
More than anything else, Windows Mobile 6.5 is about getting friendly with users' fingers, which previous versions of the OS were spitefully hostile towards. From the looks of this latest build, it might render your begrudgingly-included styluses obsolete. About time.
By now you've probably seen the major adjustments to WinMo's interface—the Titanium home screen, honeycomb-but-not-honeycomb start menu, enlarged contextual menus and improved scrolling. These were a help, to be sure, but they've generally been available by means of third-party shells like TouchWiz and TouchFlo 3D for years now. This build, on the other hand, fixes some core problems.
Take the iPhone-esque text-selection, which isn't just better than WinMo 6.1's—it's better than Android's. And the expandable tray, while far from revolutionary, cements up another little pocket of stylus-dependency. Interestingly, these last few minor improvements could amount to a pretty big deal: While its aging guts are still very apparent, shipping 6.5 as a totally finger-friendly OS could be enough to make it something more than a stopgap exercise in shit-polishing. [XDA via Slashgear]
Portuguese ISP Zon Multimedia will devlier one gigabit of bandwidth to broadband customers come September. One gigabit! So, if you want a truly fast internet connection in 2009, you're better off moving to the Azores than, say, New York City.
This is painful for the vast majority of the world's online population, who live out their lives in a sub-10Mbps ghetto, but doubly so for South Korea, who seemed to have the claim to the first 1Gbps connection all locked up. If it's any consolation, nobody's even claiming they'll be able to hit 1Gbps here.
Of course, there will be disadvantages. 1Gbps connections surely won't come cheap, and seriously, beyond extremely well-seeded torrents, you're going to have trouble finding too many places that are willing to serve you content at over 128 megabytes per second. But still, this hurts. [Broadband TV News]
Personally, I don't have the luxury to watch the reviews in their entirety, but it is clear that you will get a pretty good idea of what these smartphones are all about. However, before you dedicate a serious chunk of time to this, keep in mind that there are no guarantees that the Aino and Satio will hit the states anytime in the near future. If you are undeterred, hit the following link to check out the other 7 videos in the series. [Youserbase]
Here are the 35 new desktop images Snow Leopard is shipping with next month, as found by CreativeBits. There are the expected plants and nature images, but there's also new fine art and graffiti shots. Graffiti?
There's definitely some new/different stuff here, such as the photos of an actual Snow Leopard, high-res scans of famous fine art and then those graffiti shots. How street of you, Apple! And as for that grey camo shot, well, I don't even know what to say about that. To each his/her own, I guess. [CreativeBits via Purnell]
Grey camo. Really, Apple? Zoomed out, this says "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air"
Hello, we're looking for another intern to work in New York City, since one of them is getting deported to London. Here's what we're looking for:
What You Need • Gadget love and knowledge—some geekiness is definitely a good thing • Writing experience is a major plus, but not 100 percent mandatory—but you should have a good command of the English language, and be ready to demonstrate it with some samples • A decent laptop (one that can handle light video editing) • An alarm clock, 'cause you'll be up eeeeeearly every morning • Basic experience with HTML, Flickr, torrenting, Firefox, FTP-the internets, essentially • An NYCish address (you need to be able to get to Manhattan in the morning with no problems) • Dedication—the job's fun, but it's definitely work • The ability to listen and follow instructions and be fast—basically, you're here to learn and build up your knowledge-base • Full-time availability—sorry students • To be over 18
What You'll Be Doing • Spotting stories • Helping us pull together stories with research • Supporting editors in the field • Writing, eventually, if you're awesome
The pay is incredibly lousy—we're not kidding—but you'll get top-notch experience with the well-oiled blog machine that is Giz, learn lots of neat words for penis, and yes, get to play with cool gadgets you (maybe) couldn't afford on your own. Send your resume, no attachments please—seriously, we'll delete your application without even looking at it—and tell us why you're the best person on earth, or at least in NY, to JOBS@gizmodo.com, with NYC INTERN in the subject line, otherwise we might miss it. Good luck!
A lot of designers these days are looking at ways we can harness wasted energy in the home to supplement our energy needs, but the tp roll might be going a little too far. The idea is to harness the spinning motion of the toilet paper roll to generate electricity that powers the unit's secondary function as a portable lamp. Needless to say, the practicality of such a device is questionable. I mean, keeping this thing powered up would require more chili and cheese than I am willing to eat. [Miguel Melgarejo via The Design Blog]
I suppose one lesson of this short clip—comparing footage from the Red One, Canon 5D Mark II, and Panasonic Lumix GH1 with a range of lenses—is that a woman in a black dress makes for great test video.
Oh, and I'm admittedly surprised by how well the GH1 appears to keep up with the Red One and 5D Mark II. Of course, at full resolution, it might be a different story. But if you were really torn between the Red One and GH1 for some reason, I guess your decision got a bit harder.
In case you were still interested in Tony Hawk: RIDE, the upcoming Tony Hawk game that will use the new skateboard controller (Matt's impressions here), it will go on sale November 17th for $120. Amazon is still showing the release for mid October. Just ignore that. [thride]
This weekend I bought new headphones for my iPhone at Mikey's Hook Up, one of our local computer stores here in Williamsburg. Everything was good until I saw their absolutely outrageous returns policy in their receipt.
You have to give them an oatmeal raisin cookie with no frosting for a return? Are they out of their fucking mind? Has the world gone completely bonkers and I didn't get the memo?
Stupid, stupid people. Everybody knows that oatmeal raisin cookies are way better with lemon-vanilla frosting. Oh, the infamy.
Being a bird? That's not so crazy. But free falling with nothing but an elastic tether? Yeah, that's pretty cuckoo.
This bungee jumper "cuckoo clock" concept probably won't ever exist in real life. But imagine, if you will, sitting around grandma's dinner table, admiring the kitsch, when a figurine shouts, "It's ten o'clock, hee-ha!" before falling just the proper length to smack you on the head.
Recovering from the non-concussion, you realize why grandma sat you in that chair, awkwardly stuffed into the corner. She wanted to state, tacitly, that her clock had bigger balls than you. And as with all of grandma's lessons, the truth stings a bit before you remember the pain is just in your head as the poor, senile woman puts out a bowl of fresh cat food for her pet that died a decade ago. [Mintpass]
Microsoft's half-price deal for Windows 7 ran out a few weeks ago, bumping prices back to painful levels. If you're thinking about pre-ordering anyway, wait. There's a decent chance there'll be some new deals as we get closer to launch.
They want the launch to be a success, after all, and success will be measured by sales numbers. The standard upgrade pricing—$120 for Home Premium—is too much to guarantee the kind of rocket launch Microsoft's looking for. You know, the one that shows they're back on track, especially after this past quarter.
Pressure from Snow Leopard's flat $29 upgrade price will help, and Microsoft's been savvy enough with press for Windows 7 they know that staging another set of deals will be a positive boost getting closer to launch. The early summer pre-orders were for the super-nerds—your dad probably didn't hear anything about it—so another round to get semi-regular people on board would be smart.
Even the vampires who've been around hundreds of years in True Blood are confused by HDTVs. It's LCDs that are thin and light, not plasmas. Of course, if you wanted to brain somebody, plasma would be a better choice.
This photo? It's of the Ear Force X4. I liked the system quite a bit back when I reviewed it. Now, the latest edition of this Xbox 360 wireless surround chat-ready headset sounds even better with one really great update.
(This is the new model. It looks similar, I know.)
The infrared system seen in the X4 has been swapped out for a 2.4Ghz RF system in the X41. In other words, you should never get any hiss on the line from interference or loss of line of sight. The other big upgrade is that the formerly Dolby 5.1 headset now supports Dolby 7.1. I'm not convinced that most users will tell an immediate difference, but surely the detail looks nice on the box.
(Oh, and the less-promoted upgrade is that the X41's transmitter runs off Xbox 360 USB if you'd like, so there's no need for an AC adapter. Neat.)
Sadly, manufacturer Turtle Beach didn't solve the Ear Force's biggest flaw: its lack of a rechargeable battery pack. While there aren't many other headsets that offer such a niche solution (wireless surround sound gaming with integrated Xbox chatting), most surround sound headsets exploit lithium ion tech so you don't rip through so many batteries. And for $200, it's hard to believe that the X41 goes cheap on the power. [Turtle Beach]
Does the camera really make you look 10 pounds fatter? Short answer, according to video pros: Not really, unless you're shot under horrendous lighting and from a terrible angle. Of course, with HD, there are other concerns. [Ars]
Would Apple really ship something so regressive and line-mudding as that? Yes, according to Canadian carrier Rogers' website. Also, no, according to Canadian carrier Rogers' website, and salespeople. Let's take a gander at the evidence! UPDATED: False alarm, as suspected.
First, the above chart: it clearly indicates the existence of an 8GB 3GS—look at that checkmark!—which seems to lend credence to an earlier, shakier report from BGR that the carrier would launch an 8GB version of the handset. But then, this: That's from the same site, on the front page. If there was an 8GB version of the 3GS, it's safe to assume it'd be cheaper, and just as safe to assume that Rogers would want to advertise this fact. Rogers spokespeople were unavailable for comment this morning, but we can confirm their salespeople know nothing of the device, telling us that the only 8GB iPhone available is the 8GB 3G. Of course, the chart could reflect leaked info about some future announcement, unseen by Rogers sales minions, but I'm leaning toward some intern screwing up a complex chart over a bizarre, irrational shakeup to Apple's—and by proxy, Rogers, AT&T, 02 and others'—product line.
UPDATE: A Rogers spokeperson returned our email, confirming our suspicions:
You're right, there is no 8GB 3G s iPhone. There is a formatting error on our website. It is being corrected asap
FWIW, they were a little less emphatic when talking with Electronista, but at least for now, this looks like a no-go. [MacRumors via BGR]
If you're stuck in a home without a built-in fireplace, you can now buy a $5,400 chest that opens up to reveal a self-contained fireplace. If you manage to not burn your place down, it'll be a great substitute.
The "Mall Fire" by Atria is a fire trunk that uses bio ethanol to create flames when its opened. When closed, it just looks like your standard issue white trunk. As for how much heat it throws, I'm assuming not a lot. But hey, fire! Everybody loves fire. [Product Page via BornRich]
Here's the vision: anything from a phone to a wall to a desk can be fitted with a small stethoscope sensor, which is able to register distinctive scratch vibrations that the human ear usually can't pick up, and read them as commands. Quick test: run your fingernail across your desk, and listen to the sound. Now, put your ear on your desk, and do the same. Not only is the sound louder the second time around—it's completely different, and much higher-pitched. This distinction is at the core of scratch input.
So different and unique are the sounds that the research team thinks they could design a system that could recognize gestures and shapes—like the letter "S", for example—allowing for relatively complex interaction with applications or devices. Think declining a call or pausing your music by scratching your thigh, or opening Expose by drawing two fingers across your desk. Below, a glimpse into our scratch-controlled future, which bears no small resemblance to footage from a containment cell in a mental health facility. [Wired]
LEDs and CFLs face off yet again. Are netbooks green? Vinod Khosla dishes on the future of Li-Ion batteries. Solar chargers are moving up in the world. And a look at Samsung's Reclaim cell phone.
When trying to determine the greenest option among products, it is important to take into account the whole life-cycle of the product. The U.S. Department of Energy has already released a few life-cycle assessments (LCA) of LED lights and LED maker Osram has just released a new LCA study conducted by the Siemens Corporate Technology Centre for Eco Innovations. Their conclusions are pretty interesting...
Vinod Khosla clarifies his take on the future of Lithium-Ion batteries and the future of energy storage in a guest post. Get the scoop on Li batteries from someone in the know.
We take a look at the Samsung Reclaim and wonder if it's just another piece of greenwash, or worth a double take.
Craving a solar charger for your gadgets but everything on the market so far is a bit clunky? Well, they're getting better.
So, are netbooks greener than notebooks or not? We weigh the pros and cons to decide if you're going green if you're on the netbook bandwagon.
TreeHugger's EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.
The Dell Mini 9 may not be Dell's newest netbook, but it's widely considered the best hackintosh around. The only problem? It was discontinued...or so we thought.
Right now, you can order a Mini 9 from Dell using this direct link. Its $299 price comes at the cost of a laughable, 8GB hard drive—which technically works for OS X, but you may want to fork over $40 more for the 16GB upgrade all the same.
We have no idea how long Dell will continue offering the Mini 9—a marketing ploy that we're sure Dell just loves—but beggars can't be choosers.
A pub in Melbourne came up with what potentially could be the best and wrongest multimedia device ever invented: A urinal with a rear projector, so you don't miss a single second of a game when you have to pee.
The idea of the Rear Projection Urinal is good, although potentially disturbing—especially when your favorite TV anchor appears. Or when people instinctively follow the ball and end peeing on the next guy in line. Or when they play a Nicholas Cage movie.
Don't let the hippies hear that wood may make a better artificial bone than titanium. We'll never live it down.
Italian scientists have developed a new "wood-derived bone substitute" that promises to be better than ceramic or metal implants. They start with a block of wood like red oak, burn it until the block is essentially charcoal and then coat the substance with calcium.
The "bone" takes about a week to produce at a cost of around $850. And while it's not quite as cool as titanium, the spongier structure handles natural impact better, and other bones prefer the calcium carbon mix to space shuttle alloys.
Great ideas tend to make so much sense that you wonder why they took so long. Here's another: USAA, a privately held bank/insurance company, is updating its iPhone app to let customers snap both sides of a check for deposits.
The bank's VP tells The NY Times that once you hit the send button, the deposit is made just like any other check—you won't have to mail it in later, either. As everything will be handled electronically, the bank will suggest customers simply void the check before either filing or discarding it.
The Times does point out that the capability will only be available to customers who are either eligible for credit, or have some type of insurance through the bank, but I gotta tell you—if my bank had this, I'd definitely use it. Being able to deposit at the ATM is one thing, but this screams convenience.
Would you use such a feature, or would concerns over the iPhone's security make you too wary? [NY Times]
Dr. Quake of Stanford University only needed $50,000 and a month's time to complete a genome sequencing process which previously took $300 million, over 250 people, and several years. How cheap would Windows 7 be with this guy's cost-cutting?
Your shelves officially suck compared to these. They're 
Sling just submitted the 1.1 version of Slingplayer, which we 
A study published in the Journal of Bioelectromagnetics, says that children aged 11 to 14 abusing predictive texting in cellphones are turning into fast-thinking idiots. Sounds about right. Of course, lead researcher Professor Abramson doesn't say it exactly that way:
More wackiness from Cupertino's council of app elders! First 
They're 
Portuguese ISP Zon Multimedia will devlier one gigabit of bandwidth to broadband customers come September. One gigabit! So, if you want a truly fast internet connection in 2009, you're better off moving to the Azores than, say, New York City.
Hello, we're looking for another intern to work in New York City, since one of them is getting deported to London. Here's what we're looking for:
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